Senate of Pennsylvania
Session of 2013 - 2014
Regular Session

MEMORANDUM

In the near future, I plan to re-introduce legislation would modernize Pennsylvania’s approach to long-term reporting of minor criminal records.

My legislation would amend Title 18 (Crimes and Offenses) to allow individuals who have served their punishment and remained free of arrest or prosecution for seven to ten years, for nonviolent third and second degree misdemeanors, to petition the court for their record to be expunged.

A low-level misdemeanor in a person’s past can often serve as a continual barrier when seeking work, long after they have completed their sentence. My legislation proposes that the Commonwealth join a growing number of states that have expanded their expungement laws to reduce the period during which a minor criminal record can punish people. This legislation would benefit not just former offenders, but Pennsylvania as a whole, by countering high rates of recidivism, relieving an overburdened pardon system, and providing an opportunity for ex-offenders to join our workforce.